Pune: IT union seeks action against Capgemini for asking employees to take leave

The union said that the pay and job of 35,000 employees in Maharashtra is at risk. (Reuters)

An IT union in Maharashtra has taken strong objection to the move by IT giant Capgemini asking its employees to apply for leave. In a written complaint to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, the National Information Technology Employees Sena has sought action against the company. However, the firm said this was only an interim measure.

Harpreet Saluja, general secretary of the union, said, “We have received numerous complaints from employees of Capgemini Technology Services Limited…The company asked employees on April 6, 2020, to apply for leaves with immediate effect. Because of this, pay and job of 35,000 employees in Maharashtra is at risk,” the letter said. The union said this move by the firm was in contravention of the central and state governments’ rules during the lockdown period.

When contacted, the company said in a statement, “During these unprecedented times, Capgemini’s highest priority continues to be to ensure the safety and well-being of our employees. Our variable pay for 2019 was payed-out to all eligible employees last month as normal. We are going ahead with increments and promotions for all junior professionals effective from April 1, 2020. This constitutes more than 70 per cent of our team members in this cycle. For the rest, planned increments and promotions have been deferred by one quarter and will then go ahead. We have tweaked the leave accumulation only up to Q2 end, and only as an interim measure. Our overall leave policy for the rest of the year remains unchanged and employees can continue to accrue leave as per the policy.”